Content Warning: Both the novel and guide contain discussions of alcohol addiction, death by suicide, and antisemitism.

Our Mutual Friend explores the tension between poverty and dignity. Many of the lower-class (not to mention many of the middle- and upper-class) characters scrape by on the leavings of others—quite literally in the case of Harmon, who made his wealth off trash, or Hexam and Riderhood, who pull dead bodies from the Thames in exchange for rewards. Other characters, from Silas to Fledgby to the Boffins’ many petitioners, prey on and exploit those they see as vulnerable; still others, such as Reginald Wilfer and Riah, lead personally upright lives but depend for their income on people and institutions of dubious morality. Amid so much corruption, the novel questions whether it is possible to maintain one’s integrity in the face of monetary need.

Betty Higden offers what is perhaps the clearest counterexample to the overall trend of exploitation. Despite Betty’s bleak poverty, she strives to maintain her dignity. She dedicates her life to those who share in her misfortune, raising people, like Sloppy, who have nowhere else to turn. When her situation in London becomes too precarious, Betty ventures out beyond the city. She travels from town to town selling her wares, but she is insistent that she does not want charity.